Music of the Faroe Islands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Faroese music is primarily vocal, accompanied by the fiddle (which arrived in the 17th century) and European dances like the minuet and polka. During the twentieth century choirs have played an important role in the musical history of the Faroes, and some of the best known current choirs are Tarira, Havnarkórið, Tórshavnar Manskór, Ljómur, Fuglafjarðar Gentukór, and the choirs situated in Copenhagen, Húsakórið and Mpiri.

1 History
2 Modern musicians
3 Modern bands
4 Modern classical composers
5 Details on specific musicians and groups
- 5.1 Gestir
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

Much of the imported music and instruments remained popular only in the capital and largest city, Tórshavn. Rural peoples remained true to traditions of chain dance and ballads. The three types of dance ballads are kvæði, tættir and vísir. Many of these dance forms were revived after World War 2, when a number of dance societies were formed. The ballads were largely compiled in Corpus Carminum Færoensium, which collected over 44,000 stanzas.

Faroese Jazz, Folk and Blues festival

Other songs include skjaldur, fantastic fairy tales sung by adults for children, and pitch-sliding, microtonal hymns called kingosálmar.

[edit] Modern musicians

Modern Faroese musicians like Kristian Blak, Enekk, Gunnar and Annika Hoydal and Lennart Kullgren have fused native traditions with music from Scotland, Bulgaria and the Sami people of northern Scandinavia.

Other well known faroese musicians include: Teitur Lassen, Hanus G. Johansen, Heine Lützen, Kári av Reyni, Kári Petersen, Eivør Pálsdóttir, Alex Bærendsen, Regin Dahl, Simon Von Konoy, Malan Tyril.

[edit] Modern bands

Well known faroese bands include (in alphabetical order) 200, Clickhaze, Deiggj, Devon (band), Faroe Boys, Frændur, Gestir, Hjarnar, Lama Sea, maður:glotti, Makrel, Moirae (band), Mold, MC-Hár, Nalja, Present Past, Safir, The Story Ends, Týr and Yggdrasil.

[edit] Modern classical composers

There are also some quite famous Faroese classical composers. Sunleif Rasmussen is until now the only Faroese ever to have written a symphony. Other composers are Kristian Blak, Tróndur Bogason, Kári Bæk, Filip Mortensen, Palli Hansen, Knút Olsen and Pauli í Sandágerði.

[edit] Details on specific musicians and groups

[edit] Gestir

Gestir are signed to Tutl Records. They were formed in 2002, and have been playing rock festivals in the Faroe Islands, Denmark and other countries. Their long-awaited debut album Burtur frá Toftunum was released in July 2006. Gestir's most significant concerts in the summer of 2005 were the G! Festival and at Copenhagen's music venue Vega. In the summer of 2006 Gestir played the "Atlantic Music Event" (Reykjavik, Iceland), the G! Festival (Gota, Faroe Islands) and Nord-Atlantiske Brygge (Copenhagen, Denmark). On sep. 30th Gestir will be performing a special concert in celebration of their album release, at the Nordic House, Torshavn, Faroe Islands. Special guests are upcoming new wavers The Story Ends, and much respected and inspirational folk singer Kári Sverrison. This concert will be re-introducing the video screen to Gestir´s music, with completely new footage as well as guest appearances by a cello player (Tóri Restorff) and instrumental and vocal contributions by Kári Sverrison. Gestir won the bi-annual Faroese music contest Prix Føroyar in 2003.

The members of Gestir are Ólavur Jákupsson (guitar, vocals), Torfinnur Jákupsson (guitar, lyrics), Jógvan Andreas á Brúnni (drums), Niels Jákup i Jógvanstovu (bass) and Knút Háberg Eysturstein (keyboard).

[edit] References

Gestir's website
Cronshaw, Andrew. "A New Pulse for the Pols". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 58-63. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0